he puts on the dinah shore show, and garry shandling comes on, and he goes from being miserable to just laughing and having the best time ever alone in his room. and that was, you know, a large amount of my afternoons when i was a kid. >> cooper: "freaks and geeks" was canceled after just one season, but it gave apatow an early vision for what he wanted his work to be, a model he has stuck with to this day. seth rogen and jason segel, who were unknown teenagers when apatow cast them in "freaks and geeks," continue to appear in many of his movies, and apatow helps produce theirs. when judd started working with you, do you know what he said about you? >> seth rogen: no. >> cooper: he was quoted as saying, "this is the weirdest, oddest person i've ever seen." ( laughter ) >> rogen: i can see that. ( laughs ) i was a weird kid. >> cooper: apatow has helped turn seth rogen and jason segel into comedic stars. >> jason segel: i could be wrong, but i always felt like there was some element of like a monte christo-style revenge on your part, like, "oh, really? i'm going to make these guys so fam